Māori Trust Dairy Operation supports new legislation

The owners of a Māori trust dairy operation near Rotorua welcome the passing of the dairy check legislation despite the loss of civil liberties it entails for the farm's staff.

James Warbrick of the Parekarangi Trust Farm says outfits such as his are answerable to their beneficiaries so the extra health compliance measure works in their favour. Some say dairy farming is a cash cow but the risk should a disease outbreak occur is staggering.

“We treat this very seriously our NAIT-system is identification of all our stock moving in and out of our farm is just shows that we support the level of identification,” says Walbrick.

The outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis bacterial disease in 2017 led to the changes to the NAIT Act. The risk of the disease reaching this 665-hectare farm outside Rotorua is paramount.

“For Parekarangi Trust we 1200 cow dairy farm and we have invested hugely in our farm and things like bovis are just risks that would be devastation to us and everyone in Rotorua.”

Walbrick chairs the Trust that runs the farm. He says the changes have been on their radar since the outbreak and he's looking forward to seeing all the new requirements.

“We've got nothing to hide it's only people who are trying to hide stock identification and these are the people that need to be identified”.

New search powers making it harder to hide for the cow cockies at fault.